Statistics developers need to know about Steam

[eRe4s3r]

Imo one of the most important reads for any game developer that plans to release on steam. Also for x4000 as it is related to translations, which is one of the thing Arcen messed so utterly up that I still to this day cringe when I think how many sales you lost just by not having a German AI War version on Steam.

Read it there
https://medium.com/@galyonkin/some-things-you-should-know-about-steam-5eaffcf33218

Summed up:
- Do not give your games to publishers to translate without a clause that gives you permission to sell that translation on steam.
- Do not make games for women, Steam userbase, 18% women, 82% men.
- you have to make your game at the very least gender neutral 18% women 82% men
- Do not release in Early Accesss with unfinished game, Early Access *is* your launch.
- Adapt pricing to Russian market and translate, for 10% sales there
- Not translating to German and French, costs you up to half of all sales if your game has simulation elements.
- US is the largest, but only for certain genres (hint: Not RTS, not 4X, not Simulation)
- Word of mouth (TB and other big Youtubers) makes all the difference in the world but not as large as big magazine coverage.
- Good ratings from users = better sales. But not as large an impact as good reviews from big magazines.
- Retro graphics are out currently. 

[Mick]

- Retro graphics are out currently. 

Thank god. Tired of that fad.

[eRe4s3r]

- Retro graphics are out currently. 

Thank god. Tired of that fad.

Don't worry, if they don't sell nobody will make them in the long run. These statistics are more interesting than what I summed up too. Lots of things you wouldn't have thought (especially as developer)

It seems you can make tons of horrible mistakes when releasing on Steam.

[TheVampire100]

I would help with a German translation if Arcen games would want to try something in that direction. I would even do it myself but I don't have access to the code/text of the game.

Besides that, some pretty good facts. It's no wonder that US players like mostly shooters considering their law background (everyone is allowed to have a weapon, lol).
The fact with Simulators is also true, sadly, CBS (german gaming magazine) had a long article about the phenomenon that people play a lot of those in Germany. However, people that play thos are most of the time women/men around 30-40 years old that want to play soemthing quick and without thinking/acting to much. Simulators have the benefit, you don't hace to think hard about them, you don't have to react quickly, you can go at your own pace. They are perfect for people that want something relaxing.

[Zebeast46]

Wow this article was great in general. Thanks for link, this was very informative.

[eRe4s3r]

Be sure to share it with others

This is from same guy that runs SteamSpy, so he has a HUGE data library that is only 10%~ inaccurate at worst. So to me this makes these statistics truly remarkable and.. invaluable for a dev. Even if you are right now just thinking about making a game, these statistics give you some guidance that Steam itself would NEVER give you.

[Shrugging Khan]

I would help with a German translation if Arcen games would want to try something in that direction. I would even do it myself but I don't have access to the code/text of the game.

I'll be pitching in at that point. Officially certified translator for English to German, ready to work at a discount! 

[Dominus Arbitrationis]

I'll be pitching in at that point. Officially certified translator for English to German, ready to work at a discount! 

I would help with a German translation if Arcen games would want to try something in that direction. I would even do it myself but I don't have access to the code/text of the game.

You actually can start translating nearly all of the text if you have a copy of the game. The language files are in "AI War Fleet Command/RuntimeData/Language/en" and are stored as .xml files. Of course, it would have to be a mod as of right now, but maybe Chris would be interested in keeping you guys around. Don't get your hopes up though, he said something about not translating the game because so much changes with every update.

[Aklyon]

Also theres a french translation in the AI war forums, isn't there?

[Cyborg]

- Do not make games for women, Steam userbase, 18% women, 82% men.

18 percent of 10 million users is what?    Curious, what percent of steam is German? Should we say, forget about Germans? Please. This is stat abuse.


Every female I know plays games. All the females in my family and my friends play games. They don't play *your* games, but they are playing games. And I know a lot of females.


I think this chauvinist attitude has to go. Yes, certain games seem to attract one sex more than the other, but I don't think we have to say, "don't make games for women." Sometimes, it's as easy as just not going out of your way to be offensive to your audience.

[Coppermantis]

- Do not make games for women, Steam userbase, 18% women, 82% men.

18 percent of 10 million users is what?    Curious, what percent of steam is German? Should we say, forget about Germans? Please. This is stat abuse.


Every female I know plays games. All the females in my family and my friends play games. They don't play *your* games, but they are playing games. And I know a lot of females.


I think this chauvinist attitude has to go. Yes, certain games seem to attract one sex more than the other, but I don't think we have to say, "don't make games for women." Sometimes, it's as easy as just not going out of your way to be offensive to your audience.

I guess the idea that making a game exclusively targeted towards women is less financially sound, but, then again, making a game that only appeals to one demographic is probably a bad idea regardless of that demographic's population.

Most games nowadays are pretty gender-neutral, at least as far as I see it, other than the usual "chicks don't play games" bollocks. There's no reason that, say, Civ V, Super Meat Boy, or Transistor (just to pick a few games out of my library) would appeal more to a man or a woman. One could maybe argue that the gender of the protagonist has some effect on the appeal of the game, hence why many protagonists are white males, but I don't think most people care--I know that I don't really care about the race or gender of my character, although I do know that my view is not the rule. There were many fairly disgusting comments on the Dishonored 2 E3 trailer wherein people expressed...distaste about playing as a woman, nevermind that she was just one of two playable characters and they clearly didn't read the description. These were usually met with scores of replies expressing disbelief at their idiocy, so I am lent to believe that most people, male or female, will play a game for its genre and not because it is "marketed" towards a certain gender. I know as many women who play Call of Duty as I know men.

[Cyborg]

I guess the idea that making a game exclusively targeted towards women is less financially sound

http://www.forbes.com/sites/maseenaziegler/2014/07/16/why-kim-kardashian-hollywood-is-a-200-million-hit-app/


Is that so?    Even if you and I think this game is crap, seems to be doing well.


You can make games for men and women. Let's not leave anyone out of playing games. I think that is what we should strive for. Remember that game developers have families too, and I guarantee you that includes women.

[eRe4s3r]

I guess the idea that making a game exclusively targeted towards women is less financially sound

http://www.forbes.com/sites/maseenaziegler/2014/07/16/why-kim-kardashian-hollywood-is-a-200-million-hit-app/


Is that so?    Even if you and I think this game is crap, seems to be doing well.


You can make games for men and women. Let's not leave anyone out of playing games. I think that is what we should strive for. Remember that game developers have families too, and I guarantee you that includes women.

What part of "Steam" and "PC Gaming" was not clear in my post and my link though? 18% of steam users (likely much less due to false profile data) (which is pretty much representative to PC Gaming as whole) are female. This is irrefutable statistical fact. I just pointed that out because I heard nonsense statistics before that 50% of women are PC gamers. They are not and that is all I wanted to say

So if you make a PC game, you should be aware what your audience is and isn't going to be. Especially with GG vs FemFreq nonsense going on. PC gamers are predominantly male. A sad fact where one can wonder about reasons, but a fact nonetheless. And if you are a indy dev looking at average of 30k sales at best, 18% vs 82% mean profit or bankruptcy.

Edit. And just to be clear, when I sum things up, I call em like they are. If you make a game for 1 gender only (like feminist frequency style content), you commit economical suicide. Not just will those 82% males mainly not buy your game, they will more likely give it bad ratings even when they do buy your game (sad reality currently, hopefully it changes at some point). And as the stats show, bad ratings influence sales, not as much as negative magazine reviews, but substantially all the same.

[Cyborg]

I guess the idea that making a game exclusively targeted towards women is less financially sound

http://www.forbes.com/sites/maseenaziegler/2014/07/16/why-kim-kardashian-hollywood-is-a-200-million-hit-app/


Is that so?    Even if you and I think this game is crap, seems to be doing well.


You can make games for men and women. Let's not leave anyone out of playing games. I think that is what we should strive for. Remember that game developers have families too, and I guarantee you that includes women.

What part of "Steam" and "PC Gaming" was not clear in my post and my link though? 18% of steam users (likely much less due to false profile data) (which is pretty much representative to PC Gaming as whole) are female. This is irrefutable statistical fact. I just pointed that out because I heard nonsense statistics before that 50% of women are PC gamers. They are not and that is all I wanted to say

So if you make a PC game, you should be aware what your audience is and isn't going to be. Especially with GG vs FemFreq nonsense going on. PC gamers are predominantly male. A sad fact where one can wonder about reasons, but a fact nonetheless. And if you are a indy dev looking at average of 30k sales at best, 18% vs 82% mean profit or bankruptcy.

Chauvinist stat abuse. Again, 18% of 10 million users. Statistics are an incredibly deep field, and I think you are just taking a number at face value. Your math is wrong, and your attitude is wrong.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Interactive
"Her Interactive's Nancy Drew games have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide."
Available on steam.

[Shrugging Khan]

Of course, it would have to be a mod as of right now, but maybe Chris would be interested in keeping you guys around. Don't get your hopes up though, he said something about not translating the game because so much changes with every update.

Understandable. But by that logic there also won't ever be any documentation